This section biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Miyamoto was said to have had an eclectic taste in music for his age, being interested in such groups as the Lovin' Spoonful, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, the Ramones and The Beatles. In 1970, he enrolled in the Kanazawa College of Art and graduated five years later - though he later remarked that his studies often took a backseat to drawing. As a child, Miyamoto was antagonized by a neighbor's dog - kept at bay by a chain attached to a post - inspiring the Chain Chomp enemy from the Mario series. The Legend of Zelda, in particular, took inspiration from his childhood exploration. Stories describe his boyhood discovery of hidden caves, lakes and other natural features near his home which were linked to his later work. As a young boy, Miyamoto loved to draw, paint pictures and explore the area surrounding his house. He is the second child of Iijake Miyamoto and Hinako Aruha. Miyamoto was born in Sonobe (now Nantan), Kyoto, Japan. 1.3 Competition with Sony and Microsoft.Miyamoto quickly became Nintendo's star producer, designing many franchises for the company, most of which are still active. The game's lead character, Mario (then called Jumpman), became an easily recognizable video game character and Nintendo's mascot. Miyamoto later reused the game's hardware and modified it into Donkey Kong, which was a huge success as well as a turning point in video game history. The resulting title was Radar Scope, which was not as successful in the United States as Nintendo had hoped. Video games designed by him typically feature refined control-mechanics, intuitive gameplay, simple storylines and imaginative worlds in which the players are encouraged to discover things by themselves.Įmployed by Nintendo as an artist in 1977, he was given the task of working on one of their first coin-operated arcade games. Miyamoto is a world-renowned game designer, and has been called the "father of modern video games" and "the Walt Disney of electronic gaming". He has also supervised many games published by Nintendo on behalf of other developers, including Metroid Prime and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. He created the Mario, Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, F-Zero, Pikmin and Nintendogs franchises for Nintendo game consoles, and mostly works on games as a producer. Shigeru Miyamoto ( 宮本 茂, Miyamoto Shigeru ?, born November 16, 1952) is a Japanese video game designer. General Manager, Entertainment Analysis and Development Division. Senior Managing Director of Nintendo Co., Ltd.